Problems on Functional Equations A Collection

Joseph Andreas December 20, 2012

Level 1 Unless otherwise specied, you are asked to nd all functions satisfying the given condition. 1. f : N R, f (x + y ) = f (x) + f (y ), x, y N. 2. f : Q R, f (x + y ) = f (x) + f (y ), x, y N. 3. (Cauchy) f : R R, f continuous/dierentiable/increasing, f (x + y ) = f (x) + f (y ), x, y R. 4. (Cauchy) f : R R, f continuous/dierentiable/increasing, f (xy ) = f (x)f (y ), x, y R. 5. f : R R, f (f (x) = x, x R, f increasing. 6. f : R R, x2 f (x) + f (1 x) = 2x x4 , x R 7. f : R R, f (xy ) = xf (x) + yf (y ), x, y R 8. f : R R, f (x + y ) f (x y ) = f (x)f (y ), x, y R 9. f : R R, f (f (x + y )f (x y )) = x2 yf (y ), x, y R Level 2 Unless otherwise specied, you are asked to nd all functions satisfying the given condition. 1. f : N N, f (2) = 2; if gcd(x, y ) = 1 then f (xy ) = f (x)f (y ); f (x) < f (y ) if x < y . 2. (Estonia 199x) f : N N, f (f (f (n)))) + f (f (n)) + f (n) = 3n, n N. 3. (OSN 2008) f : N N, f (mn) + f (m + n) = f (m)f (n) + 1, m, n N.
+ + 2 2 2 2 4. f : R+ 0 R0 , f (x + y ) = f (x) + f (y ) , x, y R0

5. f : R R, f (xf (x) + f (y )) = f (x)2 + y , x, y R

2 2 2 2 6. (Romania 1998) f : R R+ 0 , f (x + y ) = f (x y ) + f (2xy ), x, y R

7. f : N0 N0 , f (n + 1) > f (f (f (n))), x N0 8. (Japan 2012) f : R R, f (f (x + y )f (x y )) = x2 yf (y ), x, y R 9. f : R R, (x y )f (x + y ) (x + y )f (x y ) = 4xy (x2 y 2 ), x, y R 10. f : R R, f (x + y ) = f (x) + f (y ), and f (xy ) = f (x)f (y ), x, y R 11. f : R R, f (x3 + y 3 ) = xf (x2 ) + yf (y 2 ), x, y R 12. f : R R, f (x + f (y )) = f (x2 y ) + 4xf (y ), x, y R 13. (IMO 1992) f : R R, f (x2 + f (y )) = f (x)2 + y , x, y R 14. (IZhO 2006) f : R R, f (x + f (y )) = f (x) + sin y , x, y R 15. (IMO 2012) f : Z Z, f (x)2 + f (y )2 + f (z )2 = 2f (x)f (y ) + 2f (x)f (z ) + 2f (y )f (z ) for all x, y, z Z such that x + y + z = 0. 1

16. f : R R, xf (x + xy ) = xf (x) + f (x2 )f (y ), x, y R 17. f : R R, f (f (x) f (y )) = f (f (x)) 2x2 f (y ) + f (y 2 ), x, y R 18. f : Z Z, f (f (x) y ) = f (y ) f (f (x)), x, y Z. Show that f is bounded.
y 19. f : R R, xn f (y ) y n f (x) = f ( x ), x, y R with non-zero x.

Level 3 Unless otherwise specied, you are asked to nd all functions satisfying the given condition. 1. (IMO 1992 NTed) f : N N, f (x2 + f (y )) = f (x)2 + y , x, y N

2. (IMO 1987) Show that there is no function f : N N such that f (f (n)) = n + 2011 for all n N. 3. (Japan 2011) f : R R, f (f (x) f (y )) = f (f (x)) 2x2 f (y ) + f (y 2 ), x, y R 4. (Macedonia 2008) f : N N, f (f (n))
n+f (n) , 2

n N and f is injective.

5. f : R R, f (x + yf (x)) + f (xf (y ) y ) = f (x) f (y ) + 2xy , x, y R 6. (IZhO 2012) Do there exist integers m n and function f : R R satisfying f (m) = n and f (f (x)) = 2f (x) x 2 for any x R? 7. (Moldova TST) f : R R, (x 2)f (y ) + f (y + 2f (x)) = f (x + yf (x)), x, y R 8. f : R R, f (x + yf (x)) = f (x) + xf (y ), x, y R. 9. (IMO 2011) f : R R, f ( x y ) = f (x) f (y ) , x, y R
1 10. (Vietnam 1991) f : R R, f (xy ) + f (xz ) 2f (x)f (yz ) 2 , x, y, z R.

11. Find the number of functions f : N N such that f (f (n)) = n + 2012, n N 12. (IMO 1994), Let S be the set of all real numbers strictly greater than -1. Find all functions f : S S satisfying the two conditions: (a) f (x + f (y ) + xf (y )) = y + f (x) + yf (x) for all x, y in S ; (b)
f (x) x

is strictly increasing on each of the two intervals 1 < x < 0 and 0 < x.

13. (IMO SL 2007), f : R+ R+ , f (x + f (y )) = f (x + y ) + f (y ), x, y R+ 14. (IZhO 2009) Find a real a such that there exists function f : R R satisfying x + af (y ) y + f (f (x)) for all x, y R. 15. f : R+ R+ , f (f (xf (y )) + x) = yf (x) + x, x, y R+ 16. (Bulgaria 2009) f : R R, f (x + y 2 ) (y + 1)f (x), x, y R 17. Suppose f : N N such that f (f (n)) + f (n + 1) = n + 2 for all n N. Find all possible values of f (f (n) + n). 18. f : R R, f (x)2 + 2yf (x) + f (y ) = f (y + f (x)), x, y R 19. (IMO SL 2004) f : N N, f (m) + f (n) | m2 + n , f : N N
+ + 2 2 20. (Japan 2009) f : R+ 0 R0 , f (x ) + f (y ) = f (x + y + xf (4y )), x, y R0 2 2

21. f : R R, f (x f (xy )) = xf (1 f (y )), x, y R, with non-zero y . 22. (IMO SL 2011 A3) f, g : R R, g (f (x + y )) = f (x) + (2x + y )g (y ), x, y R Level 4 Unless otherwise specied, you are asked to nd all functions satisfying the given condition. 1. (IMO 1999) f : R R, f (x f (y )) = f (f (y )) + xf (y ) + f (x) 1, x, y R 2. (IMO SL 2008) f : R N, f (x +
1 f (y ) )

= f (y +

1 f (x) ),

x, y R. Show that range of f is N.

3. (IMO 2010) g : N N, (g (m) + n)(g (n) + m) is perfect square for all m, n N.

+ 4. (Iran TST Q5, 1st exam) The function f : R+ 0 R0 satises three conditions.

(a) f (a) = 0 i a = 0. (b) f (ab) = f (a)f (b) for any a, b R+ 0. (c) f (a + b) 2 max (f (a), f (b)) for all a, b R+ 0. Prove that for all a, b R+ 0 , we have f (a + b) f (a) + f (b). 5. (TOT 1996) Show that there is no function f : R R such that f (f (x)) = x2 1996, x R. 6. (IMO 1996) f : N N, f (m + f (n)) = f (f (m)) + f (n), m, n N 7. (IMO SL 2008) f : N N, (a) d(f (x)) = x for all x N (b) f (xy )|(x 1)y xy1 f (x) for all x N where d(x) denote the number of positive divisor of x. 8. (IMO 2011) Let f : R R be a real-valued function dened on the set of real numbers that satises f (x + y ) yf (x) + f (f (x)) for all real numbers x and y . Prove that f (x) = 0 for all x 0.
+ + 9. f : R+ 0 R0 , f (y )f (xf (y )) = f (x + y ), x, y R0

10. (Romanian Master in Mathematics 2012) Each positive integer is coloured red or blue. A function f from the set of positive integers to itself has the following two properties: (a) if x y , then f (x) f (y ); and (b) if x, y and z are (not necessarily distinct) positive integers of the same colour and x+y = z , then f (x)+f (y ) = f (z ). Prove that there exists a positive number a such that f (x) ax for all positive integers x.